KIM YongChul

“The Reason I painted Peonies”
Hearts and Peonies are still images that appear in my paintings.
Living in Korea means living in a huge wave of social and cultural change. Urbanization, westernization, overflow of information, the internet and market development, distributive movement and human interchange, travels etc. have led to a massive change in the lives of the Korean people over the past half century. Due to the strong current of change everything shifted. Established values and cultural elements are dissolving and disappearing, that is reality. And yet, there are things that remain the same. Just like we can’t imagine a life without kimchi and under-floor heating, there must be things that never moved from our lives, things that are still alive.
There are values that derived from generation to generation, that were passed on to us from our parents. Filial piety as fundament for a sense and awareness of domestic affluence and happiness. These words may sound old-fashioned and conventional, but isn’t their meaning what we have been hoping for ? then and now ? and civilized societies have been trying to preserve?
Our ancestors valued harmony within the family. They attached prints of richly blooming Peomies (a symbol of wealth) and flowers and birds onto the built-in cupboard doors in the living room, they embroidered the bedding and drew on folding screens. Living in such an environment, seeing those images time and again, enabled them to calm their troubles, to pursue ‘togetherness’ and to lead a rich and peaceful life.
The world has changed and today we live in a time where our custom culture is slowly vanishing. The affluence and optimism, the love and the mentality that made us who we are today, lies within the ‘togetherness’ that is captured in those Peony paintings and prints of flowers and birds. They bloomed in my heart and I painted them richly in hopes of reaching my family, and furthermore, our society.
Yong-Chul Kim (Artist’s Note) 2014

KIM YongChul
Born in    1949, Seoul, Korea

EDUCATION
1971    M.F.A, Painting, Graduate School of Hong-Ik University, Seoul, Korea
1978    B.F.A, Painting, Hong-Ik University, Seoul, Korea
1998-99    Artist-In-Residence, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
1999    1999 Visiting-Artist, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, USA

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITION
2013    Drawing Flowers, Yido Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2012    Solo Exhibition, Gallery Jhak, Seoul, Korea
2007    Solo Exhibition, Vit Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2002    Hyundai Art Center Gallery, Ulsan, Korea
1999    Cress Gallery, University of Tenn., Chattanooga, USA
1996    Solo Exhibition, Gallery Jo, Seoul, Korea
1994    Solo Exhibition, Gallery Boda, Seoul, Korea
1990    Solo Exhibition, Sam Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1984    Solo Exhibition, Korean Culture and Arts Foundation, Art Center, Seoul, Korea
1977    Solo Exhibition, Seoul Gallery, Seoul, Korea

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION
2010    The 30th Anniversary of the Young Korean Artists, National Museum
             of Contemporary Art, Gwachun, Korea
2007    Peony After Peony, Dajeon Museum of Art, Dajeon, Korea
1999    Korean Pop, Sung-Kok Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
1998    Three Artists / Three Continents, Ewing Gallery of Art, University of
             Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
1995    Tradition and Contemporary Works, Sonje Museum of Contemporary
             Art, Kyungju, Korea
1991    The 1st Total Grand-Prix, Director’s Prize, Total Museum, Jangheung, Korea
1982    Aspects of Contemporary of Korean Art, Kyoto Art Museum, Kyoto, Japan
1981    Korean Drawing, Now, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
             Young Artists Exhibition, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
1980    Xlle Festival International de la Peinture, Chateau Musee,
             Cagnes-Sur-Mer, France